Listen to a weekly podcast about the people behind local government

The 'Strong Towns' podcast explores how American cities can become financially resilient

This weekly podcast examines why the way America has built its cities since World War II has left some communities financially fragile—and what local governments can do differently moving forward.

Listen to 'We the People,' a weekly podcast from the National Constitution Center

Hosted by Jeffrey Rosen, this weekly podcast from the National Constitution Center brings leading legal scholars together to debate major constitutional questions, presenting competing arguments in a balanced, nonpartisan format.

Listen to the official weekly podcast of Davos

Produced by the World Economic Forum, "Radio Davos" is the forum's weekly podcast, featuring interviews with global leaders, policymakers, executives, and thinkers on issues ranging from climate change and inequality to technology, work, and geopolitics.

Local governments coordinate across jurisdictions through regional councils and planning bodies

Many local governments are part of Councils of Governments or Metropolitan Planning Organizations—regional entities that coordinate transportation, land use, and other shared priorities across city and county boundaries. Federal law mandates their establishment in any metro area with a population over 50,000.

Stand-up comedy podcasts have realigned political campaigns

Some of the world’s most popular podcasts, like “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von,” are hosted by stand-up comedians. They also now play a role in American politics, with representatives, senators, and even presidents taking part in their freewheeling conversations

The Washington Post's 'Presidential' podcast tells the story of every American president

Hosted by Lillian Cunningham, "Presidential" explores how each president rose to power, led through crises, and shaped the office. Featuring historians like David McCullough and journalists like Bob Woodward, the series traces leadership and legacy across American history.

Explore stories from riders of San Francisco's transit system

Since 2008, the "Muni Diaries" podcast has collected true stories from more than 4,000 transit riders, from a man riding with a black crow on his shoulder to the bus driver who moonlights as a poet.

Explore nuclear policy debates with this biweekly podcast

Hosted by Jeffrey Lewis and Aaron Stein, Arms Control Wonk offers biweekly analysis of nuclear weapons, disarmament, proliferation, and missile threats. Drawing on the hosts' deep arms‑control expertise, it makes complex security issues accessible.

'So to Speak' is a podcast covering the front lines of free-speech debates today

Produced by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, this podcast covers the most contested free-speech issues of the moment—from campus censorship to social media regulation—and features interviews with lawyers, scholars, journalists, and activists.

See how local, state, and federal governments divide the cost of public services

Federal, state, and local governments share responsibility for funding public services. Education, roads, and social programs are funded through a complicated mix of taxes and intergovernmental transfers.

Nearly a quarter of the US's 451 top-ranked podcasts belong to the true crime genre

Perhaps, Pew Research Center proposes, this popularity stems from the fame of "Serial," the 2014 hit series about a 1999 murder in Baltimore. Politics and government is the second top genre. Outside typical genre divides lie series such as fictional radio stories and Dungeons & Dragons podcasts, which account for 12% of top-ranked podcasts.

Explore the unexpected ways people use public libraries in this 'This American Life' episode

Libraries serve as far more than book repositories. This episode follows a family experiencing homelessness that spent months living in their local library, Iranian students reuniting with family across the US-Canada border because the library straddled both countries, and a Vermont man who built his own library to house unpublished manuscripts.

Explore a podcast devoted to uncovering different conspiracy theories

Hear stories of controversial events from all around the world and come to your own conclusions about why they happened—and if someone shaped the narrative around them. From art fraud to the death of a Roman emperor, this Spotify podcast covers it all.

Hear from those who reported on the ground in Minneapolis amid immigration raids

In this podcast episode, journalists reporting from Minneapolis describe ICE enforcement actions, street protests, and community fallout—offering firsthand accounts of how immigration crackdowns are unfolding in the Midwestern city.

Will smart cities widen the divide between rich and poor?

Author of the book "Uneven Innovation" talks about the need for intention when planning smart cities to avoid unintentionally creating inequality. This hour-long podcast delves into the impact of privatizing public services, community engagement,...

'Our Towns' offers a portrait of civic life in smaller cities in America

Based on the book of the same name by journalists James and Deborah Fallows, the 2021 documentary follows the pair as they travel across small and mid-sized American cities to show how communities handle economic setbacks and reinvent themselves locally.

American local government comes in five distinct forms

Counties, municipalities, townships, special districts, and school districts are each created for a different purpose, operating under different rules, and answerable to the state in different ways. Special districts, the least known of the group, are created for specific purposes, such as transit or fire protection.

Governments are arguably very dependent on consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte

This podcast episode discusses the consultancy industry’s rise and how these firms make billions of dollars, even amid significant scandals.

'Statelessness: Citizens of Nowhere' podcast examines how statelessness erodes identity

This podcast series explores how millions live without citizenship or legal status. Through expert interviews and personal stories, it examines how history, borders, and policy can leave entire populations without citizenship and rights.

Are smart cities a dumb idea?

Smart cities require vast troves of data to run, making their systems attractive to hackers. Listen to this one hour podcast to learn about the risks and what is being done to mitigate them.

One in seven US tax dollars is collected by local governments

Local governments collect about $886B each year to support education, infrastructure, and public health. Roughly three-quarters of this funding comes from property taxes, with the rest sourced from sales, excise, and income taxes.

Two doctrines of local governance determine how much power cities actually have

Under what is known as "Dillon's Rule," local governments can only exercise powers explicitly granted by the state. Under "home rule," cities have broader self-governing authority—but the balance between the two depends entirely on state law.

The Keep America Beautiful campaign shifted the blame for litter from manufacturers to individuals

This podcast examines how one organization reshaped the American public's relationship with recycling, asking why responsibility for a cleaner environment falls to individuals rather than to the companies that produce waste.

Explore important free-speech cases with a First Amendment litigator

Hosted by Ken White, the "Make No Law" podcast explores landmark First Amendment cases—from student speech to defamation—breaking down complex legal battles in an accessible way for lawyers and nonlawyers alike.

Listen to a podcast that explains why Elon Musk is creating a company town called 'Snailbrook' for SpaceX and some of his other companies in Bastrop, Texas, a small community roughly 45 minutes outside of Austin.

The powers of local government are rooted in state law, not the Constitution

Unlike the federal government or the states, local governments have no constitutional standing—they exist only because state law allows them to. A state legislature can redraw a city's boundaries, strip its powers, or dissolve it entirely.

Hear about the individuals who have reshaped the Constitution throughout American history

This multi-episode podcast series from The Washington Post explores how debates, court decisions, and influential individuals have shaped the Constitution as Americans pushed the nation to live up to its founding ideals.

Listen to a podcast about the eerie side of national parks

Although the National Park System is a relatively recent invention, the lands it includes have been around since the dawn of time and, as a result, have accumulated some interesting folklore. This podcast walks you through some of the best legends about the parks.

1 in 5 Americans get local news from the radio

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center report, radio remains the second most popular medium for local news, remaining a vital source for local concerns. Audiences for national public radio, however, have declined, with listenership for NPR-affiliated stations down 10%.

Listen to a podcast exploring reported UFO and alien sightings

From the most shocking accounts of abductions and UFO sightings to an interview with a Harvard professor about these claims, dive into fascinating stories about run-ins with ETs that have continued to be told for decades.

A professor explains how podcasts built on radio's strengths

When podcasts were first produced in the early 2000s, they were often recordings of radio shows aimed at listeners who wanted to listen outside of the broadcast windows. Siobhan McHugh, an associate professor of journalism at Australia's University of Wollongong, argues that the form is built on radio's intimacy, amplifying the connection listeners feel with their favorite hosts.

Election 101 podcast

What’s actually at stake when someone casts their vote in a US election? CNN’s “Election 101” podcast series provides ten episodes summarizing some of the basics of democratic elections. The ins and outs of voting are highlighted in 15-minute episodes on voter registration and voting by mail. Additional segments highlight how the electoral system works, how ballots are counted, the Electoral College, why it takes so long to get election results, and more.

Local governments are responsible for more than 148,000 public water systems across the US

From large municipal utilities to small rural systems, local governments are tasked with providing clean water to almost every American community. The US operates over 148,000 public water systems.

Listen to a podcast that traces the history of DOJ antitrust enforcement

This podcast series traces how the US government's approach to regulating big business has changed over a century—from the DOJ's breakup of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil monopoly, through lawyer Robert Bork's influence on how courts interpret competition law, to the FTC's modern antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.

The official podcast of A24 film studio

They've made arthouse cinema mainstream while winning critical acclaim at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and more. Catch up on the latest episode of A24's official podcast here with interview of actors, directors, and more.

Silicon Valley’s reign over tech, money, and politics

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and others are getting into politics. From Musk’s role in President Trump’s second term to Hoffman’s spending on former Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, more tech CEOs are expanding into politics. This podcast episode by WBUR and American Public Media discusses what the impact could be with so many tech figures engaging in American politics. Listen here.

Reporting on the Santa Cruz storms

The Pulitzer on the Road podcast interviews prizewinners for insights on their work and takes a deep dive into issues relevant to the awards. This episode focuses on Lookout Santa Cruz, a digital California-based outlet that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for its coverage of the devastating storms the region faced in early 2023. Lookout’s reporters discuss the importance of local news coverage.

Hear how the first moon landing was saved

This podcast series explores Apollo 11 through firsthand stories from the engineers, mission controllers, and astronauts who made the moon landing possible, culminating in 13 minutes of NASA archive audio leading up to the landing.

Listen to an interview with a gig economy expert

In this podcast episode, the hosts sit down with NerdWallet Senior News Editor Rick VanderKnyff, a gig economy expert who explains why the sector grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, what defines a gig worker, how gig workers handle their finances, and more.

Illinois has more local governments than any other state

As of 2022, there were a reported total of 90,837 local government units across the US. Illinois had the highest number with 6,930, followed by Texas with 5,533. Explore all the data from the 2022 Census of Governments, which takes place every five years.

'Cold War Conversations' podcast shares voices from the conflict's frontlines

This award-winning podcast features gripping interviews with the people who lived through the Cold War—spies, soldiers, defectors, and civilians. Covering everything from the Berlin Wall to nuclear standoffs, it offers unfiltered, emotional accounts of Cold War life and conflict.

The best podcasts about Old Hollywood

If you’re intrigued by the gossip and scandals of Hollywood’s early years, you’ll want to check out this Vanity Fair list of some of the best podcasts on the topic. Some, like Karina Longworth’s "You Must Remember This," cover a different event from Hollywood history with every episode. Others follow a single topic over the course of an entire season, like "No Place Like Home", which explores the 2005 theft of the original "Wizard of Oz" ruby slippers.

Smart city systems can increase positive feelings toward local government

A 2018 study analyzed 50 global cities to determine whether smart city technologies enhance residents' quality of life. It found that these technologies can decrease the time spent interacting with healthcare and government by 45% to 65%, while also decreasing the disease burden by 8% to 15%.

Police spending is one of the largest budget items for local governments

Local governments finance most of the costs for police in the US. Total state and local criminal justice spending—covering police, courts, and corrections—reaches hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

Behind the scenes on tariff politics

Economist Gene Grossman joined the Trade Talks Podcast to discuss why tariffs really happen. The episode digs into how voters, politicians, lobbyists, and even campaign cash can affect when protectionist trade policies are put forward. Produced in 2019, the podcast also discusses how populist trade policies and identity politics accounted for Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 Presidential election.

Listen to a podcast that answers common questions about alternative investments

This podcast episode starts with an explanation of what alternative investments are, then goes on to explain how people use them to diversify their financial portfolios and answer some common questions about alternative investments. Notably, the host interviews a certified financial planner about the topic.

A podcast on America’s coming demographic crisis

This podcast explores how America’s coming demographic crisis is bad for employers. According to Bloomberg, businesses still need humans to make the economy work. However, too few workers in the US are actually working, and too few people are...

This American Life explored Ohio's gerrymandering battle

In 2022, Ohio lawmakers repeatedly drew congressional districts that the state Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional. This defiance violated a voter-approved reform intended to prohibit partisan gerrymandering.

Hear experts discuss how religion has shaped American life

Produced by the National Museum of American Religion, this podcast examines how religion has shaped America and how America has influenced religion—covering topics from the Nation of Islam and rock 'n' roll to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, with scholars and everyday citizens as guides.

An economist answers questions about love

Economists aren't exactly known for their dating advice. But as it turns out, economics experts can offer fresh perspectives to everyday romantic quandaries. On this podcast episode, economist Tim Harford answers listeners’ relationship quandaries, from paying for a first date to alternatives to saying, "I love you." Listen to the episode here.